22 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY I 



men, 1 and which found its expression in the 

 malignant insinuations in which Burke, to his 

 everlasting shame, indulged in the House of 

 Commons. 



Without containing much that will be new to 

 the readers of Hobbs, Spinoza, Collins, Hume, and 

 Hartley, and, indeed, while making no pretensions 

 to originality, Priestley's " Disquisitions relating 

 to Matter and Spirit/' and his " Doctrine of Philo- 

 sophical Necessity Illustrated," are among the 

 most powerful, clear, and unflinching expositions 

 of materialism and necessarianism which exist in 

 the English language, and are still well worth 

 reading. 



Priestley denied the freedom of the will in the 

 sense of its self-determination; he denied the 

 existence of a soul distinct from the body ; and as 

 a natural consequence, he denied the natural im- 

 mortality of man. 



In relation to these matters English opinion, a 

 century ago, was very much what it is now. 



1 " In all the newspapers and most of the periodical publica- 

 tions I was represented as an unbeliever in Revelation, and no 

 better than an atheist." Autobiography -, Rutt, vol i. p. 124. 

 ''On the walls of houses, etc., and especially where I usually 

 went, were to be seen, in large characters, 4 MADAN FOR EVER ; 

 DAMN PRIESTLEY ; NO PRESBYTERIANISM ; DAMN THE PRES- 

 BYTERIANS,' etc., etc. ; and, at one time, I was followed by a 

 number of boys, who left their play, repeating what they had 

 seen on the walls, and shouting out, * Damn Priestley ; damn 

 him, damn him, for ever, for ever,' etc., etc. This was no 

 doubt a lesson which they had been taught by their parents, 

 and what they, I fear, had learned from their superiors." 

 Appeal to the Public on, the Subject of the Riots at Birmingham. 



